Sports film 83, about India’s unlikely triumph beating the mighty West Indies at the 1983 Cricket World Cup, swept the major awards at the IFFM 2022 Awards Night.
The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne’s Awards Night took place at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, welcoming back stars, glitz and glamour through a gala affair. Here’s who took out the gongs in the major categories.
WorldRemit Short Film Competition Winner: Parole (dir. Param Walia)
Best Performance in a Series (Male): Mohit Raina for Mumbai Diaries 26/11
Best Performance in a Series (Female): Sakshi Tanwar for Mai
Best Series: Mumbai Diaries 26/11
IFFM Disruptor Award: Vaani Kapoor
Best Performance in a Feature (Male): Ranveer Singh for 83
Best Performance in a Feature (Female): Shefali Shah for Jalsa
Best Director: Shoojir Sircar for Sardar Udham and Aparna Sen for The Rapist (shared)
Best Film from the Subcontinent: Joyland (dir. Saim Sadiq)
Best Indie Film: Jaggi (dir. Anmol Sidhu)
Best Film: 83
Lifetime Achievement Award: Kapil Dev
Leadership in Cinema Award: Abhishek Bachchan
Between the award segments, the attendees were mesmerised by musical performances of Melbourne composer Tamil Rogeon (backed by a full orchestra), Sona Mahapatra, The Voice Australia music sensation Janaki Easwar, and Punjabi-Australian artist Parvyn.
Actor Ranveer Singh, currently riding a wave of popularity, would have been a runaway hit had he turned up in person to collect his Best Actor award. He sent a video message instead, and his director Kabir Khan accepted on his behalf.
The legendary cricketer Kapil Dev got emotional and held back tears upon receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award.
An unlikely invitee and an even more unlikely winner for this award, he proved to be a wonderful guest, wowing everyone with his charm and humility, and with some pretty impressive speeches.
“Itna mujhe pyaar miltaa maiN aur mehnat kartaa [if I’d known I was going to receive so much love, I would’ve worked harder],“ he said as he accepted his award
Yet he added, “A Lifetime Achievement Award is not a very good thing. That means meri zindagii kaa ho gayaa hai time pooraa [That means, my life is coming to an end]. I feel I’m still young.”
The crowd responded with a standing ovation, loud cheers and whistles.
Seeing him up close was truly a memorable experience for many.
The crowds, having clearly reached a point of emotional catharsis by this time, probably thought the evening had come to a close, only to be surprised by the call out then to Abhishek Bachchan for his own award.
But it was Mr Dev that became the lingering memory of IFFM 2022 Awards Night, especially in his generosity in showering accolades to the director of the film 83 (Kabir Khan). 1983 was life defining for Kapil Dev, and to see a film on his time then take out the Best Film award, for capturing the true spirit of the Cricket World Cup winning team, must have been momentous.
“We sportspeople or actors are nothing until people like Kabir show us on the screen. We don’t become great players who can be remembered, until there are commentators and television channels to prop us up. They are the ones who make us big. We just carry our passion. We just enjoy ourselves. But, what Kabir and his team did, hameiN maukaa milaa hai zindagi meiN dobaaraa jeene kaa [We’ve got a chance to live our lives all over again thanks to you].”
Well, there’s the power of cinema for you!
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